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539 Best Short Story Ideas for Authors in 2026
Showing 539 short story ideas curated by Reedsy.
You are an astronaut spending your last few hours on Earth before a journey into space.
Write a story in which a Christmas song plays an important role in the plot.
Write a story about pumpkin picking… in the middle of a storm.
Your mother sits you and your brother down, and says, "Kids, I'm gonna tell you an incredible story the story of how I met your father."
A romance told through a series of texts.
A group of villains go on a team-building retreat.
Write about a time that you found out something surprising about somebody else.
You are in charge of organizing a lunch for four famous historical figures. Who do you invite? Why?
Write a short story in the form of a text message exchange between two best friends during history class.
Write a story that retells a Shakespeare play, but in a modern-day high school setting.
The voice in your head is your only friend. The AI implant is your only ally. And she's just started to become sentient...
Overheard at the track-and-field: "I! NEVER! WANT! TO! SEE! THAT! DOG! POKING! HIS! HEAD! IN! HERE! AGAIN!"
You have to let go of something you treasure.
You've been asked to watch the class pet over a long weekend. It gets loose on its first night at your house.
A person dictates who he or she will date based on quantitative measures, such as horoscopes, how they perform on a test, etc.
An entrepreneur is suffering self-doubt from a string of failures, and this is their last chance.
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